Mowing My Lawn: Taking Time to Relax and Enjoy my Surroundings

I have a Country Clipper, The Boss Zero-Turn style lawnmower. It has a 3-blade spread that cuts a 60 inch swath. Previous to this, we used a Farmall tractor with a 59 inch cut. Previous to that, we used a 38 inch riding lawn mower.

A zero-turn lawnmower means that you use a joystick, at least our does. The rear wheels are set and do not move, but the two front wheels are on a 360 swivel, but you mainly only use 180 degrees of it. You can joystick to the extreme left or to the extreme right.

The big advantage of the zero-turn is that when you mow up to trees, whether big or small, you can tap into the grass along side the tree sideways. In comparison to a regular riding lawnmower that, if you need to get closer, you almost need to put the mower in reverse and back up and take a second or third close pass.

The zero-turn eliminates all the extra motion.

You know, it seems like mowing causes rain to form. That, and washing the car, or starting up a campfire.

The day started out pretty blue skies, with a few white clouds. It was a comfortable 68 degrees. I put on a light sweatshirt, a long sleeved shirt and a floppy brimmed hat. I put on some bug spray and I decided to wear gloves. Last night, I did use Cutter Spray with my garden hose and it did seem to eliminate many of the winged creatures that seemed to think that my blood belonged to them. NOT!

Since I started mowing on Tuesday night, and got about two hours of mowing completed, I began again this morning - It is Thursday, and I estimated that I'd mow for a few hours and then, take a break.

So, I got the lawn mower out of the shed and began where I left off. I decided to just do small sections again, just for the feeling of accomplishment. I do have other things that I'd rather be doing, like working on my sawmill, but these things have to wait.

Mowing comes first today. We have a wedding to go to on Saturday, so that takes care of mowing in a few days.

As I mowed around and got closer to the house, and my angle of mowing kept changing with the completion of sections, I noticed that it was clouding up in one spot. The sky was blue, blue, blue, and white.

Then, it got white, blue, and dark blue, in one spot. Then, all of a sudden, it got warm. I looked up and there was a glowing ring across a white cloud. It was pretty. I thought about getting my camera, but decided to stay focused on mowing.

I was mowing under the oak trees, under the apples trees, next to the fence, around holes the dog had dug in my path.... Just taking it easy.

Still moving in small circles and getting small areas accomplished.

Then, I ran out of gas. I shut off the blade, throttle, pushed the joystick back down and turned the key off. I got off the lawn mower and was immediately attacked by about 300 mosquitoes. Walked back to the house, swatting bugs as I went, even covering my face with my coat and looking out the small hole in the fold.

I am a multi-task person and decided to bake some frozen chicken while I mowed. I decided to coat the chicken with Fry Magic, lay on some Lawry's Teriyaki Marinate with Pineapple, coat that with poultry seasoning and some seasoning salt. The bag said to bake the chicken at 375 for a good hour. Well. I think it was in there about hour and a half. The marinate was starting to cook dry on the outside edge. The timing was perfect, thank goodness when I finished mowing...

It was a good 300 foot walk to the house, to the gas jug. I decided to put the jug of gas in the back of my Subaru Baja. The Baja has a pickup box on it and I drove it out there with the jug in the back. I refilled the tank and started to mow.

I had chicken in the oven that would be done by the time I finished, I hoped.

I finished the mowing and then, forgetting I had chicken baking, drove around the yard taking photos of things.

You know, to show you, dear reader. Well, meanwhile, back in the kitchen....

I walked into the kitchen, armed with my newly taken disk of pictures and opened the oven door. I was greeted by six, blackened pieces of chicken.

No, no, no, not burnt, just starting to get to the point of being questionable. I, wanting to make sure, stabbed one of the legs with my thermometer Temperature for done chicken is 165 degrees. As I watched the digital display, it registered 142,152, 162, 172.... okay. Chicken done.

Using tongs and fork, I peeled a little piece of chicken from the bone. The coating was a little caramelized, but still wet. The chicken was not bloody. It was tender and moist. The teriyaki sauce had melded with the rest of the seasonings and my mouth was experiencing some minor enjoyment.

It was yummy!

I took pictures of berries, and apples and wild asparagus and pinecones and grapevines and different lengths of grass, and cornfields and pine trees, and gooseberry bushes and, then, the color of the sky as it turned black.

The wind came up and, then, thunder. Then, it started to rain, and I decided to go in the house and listen to my weather radio.

Well. My county was on the edge of a storm that was mowing south. There was hail predicted. I do not know if I got any hail. I just know that it started to rain and there was water hitting the windows of the house.

Then. It stopped and got really sunny.